1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clip for a movable connector and, more particularly, to a clip which movably secures a connector into an insertion hole, to thus facilitate mating of the connector with a mating connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
A motor vehicle, for example, typically includes many different types of electronic components that require electric power. As shown in FIG. 6, for instance, a room lamp 9 for illuminating the inside of the vehicle receives power from an electric wire 5, which is disposed between an outer plate 1 and the ceiling 3 of a vehicle compartment and is connected through a connector 7 to the lamp 9. The lamp 9 is fitted into a hole 11 formed in the ceiling 3, and is then secured with screws to the ceiling 3 which is secured to the outer plate 1.
If the electric wire 5 is not itself tied down or secured, however, it can become lodged between the edge portion of the fitting hole 11 and the lamp 9 when the lamp 9 is being fitted into the fitting hole 11. Moreover, the number of steps required to properly mount the lamp 9 tends to increase because the lamp 9 has to be fitted into the hole 11 after the electric wire 5 is drawn out of the fitting hole 11 to first be connected to the lamp 9. Furthermore, the lamp 9 has to be fitted into the hole 11 while the electric wire 5 is also forced back carefully into the hole 11 so as to prevent damage to the wire 5.
In order to solve these problems, an arrangement has been used in which the roof bow 13 is provided with a vehicle connector 15 that is connected to the electric wire 5. The lamp 9 is provided with a lamp connector 17 which mates with the vehicle connector 15 as shown in FIG. 7, so that the electrical connection is completed simultaneously with the installation of the lamp 9.
With this arrangement, vehicle connector 15 and the lamp connector 17 must be fit together when the lamp 9 is installed in the opening 11. Thus, these connectors must be aligned properly.
As described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 50610/1993, in order to facilitate alignment of the connectors 15 and 17, a movable connector can be used as one of the connectors so as to absorb the positional shift in alignment by allowing the connector itself to move at the time of lamp installation. FIG. 8 is a side view of such a conventional movable connector 25, and FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of the movable connector shown in FIG. 8.
As shown, the movable connector 25 is rigidly fitted into a fitting hole 23 which is provided in a vehicle-body panel 21, and a lamp connector 27 and the movable connector 25 are connected together through a L-shaped sub-connector 30. The movable connector 25 includes elastic retaining pieces 29 attached to the respective sides of a cubic connector housing, and retaining parts 29a of the elastic retaining pieces 29 engage with the peripheral edge portion of the fitting hole 23 so that the movable connector 25 is held by the vehicle-body panel 21. One side of each retaining part 29a is tapered so as to be inserted in the fitting hole 23, and the other side acts as a retaining side which is parallel with the vehicle-body panel 21.
Since the movable connector 25 is held in the fitting hole 23 through the elastic retaining pieces 29, it can only move slightly due to the elastic deformation of the elastic retaining pieces 29, so that only a small positional shift of the movable connector 25 relative to the sub-connector 29 can be absorbed. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 10, the elastic retaining pieces 29 of the movable connector are retained by the retaining sides 29b which abut against the peripheral edge portion of the fitting hole 23. It is noted that the position of the retaining side 29b is displaced by a dimension of a in the direction in which the retaining side 29b is fitted when the elastic retaining piece 29 is deflected, as shown by a chain double-dashed line. Therefore, deflection of the elastic retaining piece 29 results in a simultaneous deflection of the retaining side 29b. Hence, the retaining side 29b tends to readily slip off of the edge portion of the fitting hole.
Also, since the retaining side 29b is formed so that it is parallel to the vehicle-body panel 21, it only engages the edge of the panel 21 by a retaining width W. Therefore, the retaining side 29b tends to easily slip off the fitting hole 23 when the elastic retaining piece 29 is deflected.
If, on the other hand, the retaining side 29b is rigidly retained by the peripheral edge portion of the fitting hole 23, the elastic retaining piece 29 will also be prevented from deflecting. Therefore, the connector is unable to move sufficiently so as to absorb a shift in positions between connectors 15 and 17.
Additionally, in the above-described movable connector 25, the elastic retaining pieces 29 are retained in the rectangular fitting hole 23 in such a manner that the side walls of the elastic retaining pieces 29 are set parallel to the respective sides of the fitting hole 23, as shown in FIG. 11A. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11B, when the movable connector 25 is turned about the central axis of insertion with respect to the fitting hole 23, the opposing elastic retaining pieces 29 deflect in directions toward each other, so that a distance d2 between two of them becomes less than the length d1 of the fitting hole 23, and a distance e2 between the other two of them becomes less than the width e2 of the fitting hole 23. Accordingly, the connector is either easily released from the hole 23, or becomes lodged in the hole and thus unable to move.
Additionally, when the central axis of the movable connector 25 is in parallel to the central axis c of insertion, the retaining side 29b is also set parallel to the vehicle-body panel 21 as shown in FIG. 12A. However, the retaining side 29b tilts when the central axis of the connector tilts with respect to the central axis c of insertion as shown in FIG. 12B. In this case, one end of retaining side 29b is separated by a dimension of f from the vehicle-body panel 21, and the connector 25 is unable to move as it is inserted into the hole in the vehicle-body panel 21 side. Also, the other end g of retaining side 29b which is in engagement with the vehicle-body panel 21 can easily slip away from the vehicle-body panel 21, thus allowing the connector to fall out of the fitting hole 23.